an interesting encounter

I had a very interesting encounter with a particularly charming guy. Everything about him was so different. I saw him at a bus stop while waiting for my sis. I was the one who made the first move. I offered him a seat beside me. He was standing so that he could see the bus coming so, he replied politely that it was okay and continued standing. Then, he saw me reading and asked whether I was studying for examination. I replied, “No, I’m just reading lecture notes that were taught today.” Then, I continued talking to him. I introduced myself about being a first year medical student and about my hometown, etc. And then, I asked him about the location of his house and which bus he needed to take and so on. Apparently, he was there to HKL to visit his friend. We continued on to chat about few other things which seemed to be quite a lot for that short period of time. The short-lived conversation i had with him gave me a quick insight into his life.

Then, I offered to hold the bus on his behalf and asked him to sit,but he politely refused. But, my being a stubborn girl refused to accept his answer. I added that it would be my pleasure to hold the bus for him. He replied by saying that although he knew that it’d be my pleasure but again, he said it was okay and thanked me profusely instead. I was really amazed by his gesture. I could feel an immediate strong attraction towards his independent and truly cool personality. Afterwards, he continued the conversation by sparing more information about his seemingly interesting life. He shared that he is currently living with his friends. I was thinking about asking him about his family but I was afraid that I would offend him in any way by doing so, thus i decided to wait and let him spill the details himself if he deemed it to be necessary. Shortly after, as though he was able to read my mind, he started to tell me about his family.

Once he finished telling me about his family, he volunteered the answer to the million dollar question about his age, although I never actually asked for it. The very moment he told me his age, I was dumbfounded because it never occurred to me that he was so much older than what I could possibly imagine. I spontaneously blurted out that, “Wow, you look so much younger than your real age.” I asked him about his secret to looking that young and he generously shared that it was all contributed to staying fit by exercising regularly. I was inspired by his answer because it is hard to remain motivated to lead a healthy lifestyle nowadays. A few minutes later, his bus came and our short, sweet meeting had to come to an abrupt, almost tragic ending. I wished that I had given him my phone number so that he could at least contact me in the future. But, it is all too late to ponder now. The worst part is that I forgot to even get to know his name. All I know is that he is a 82 years old gentleman who is currently staying at Taman Melawati. He married a Japanese woman and is blessed with five children- two sons and two daughters and one adopted child. And he has a whopping 22 grandchildren. Once his children were married, he asked them to live on their own with their own families though they will come to visit him occasionally on weekends. So, if any one of you know a man with such a strong personality and wisdom that matches the information that I have given, please let me know the details. He looked just like my late grandfather and I wish I could perhaps spend more time with him. My last word to him was about the passing of my grandfather but if he were to be alive, he would be around his age. And the last image of him that is still so fresh in my mind is of him saying goodbye to me from inside the bus (which is really so sweet of him)..